Irish Labour History Society thanks the late Séamus Doherty for all his work

The Irish Labour History Society was saddened to hear of the passing of Séamus ‘Shirts’ Doherty.

Séamus was the driving force behind the erection of a monument to the early nineteenth century trade unionist, radical newspaper publisher and factory reformer John Doherty, 1798-1853, ‘The Voice of the People’, on Castle Pier in Buncrana in 2000.

The monument was supported by the ILHS and SIPTU, and a seminar on Doherty and his life and times was held on the weekend of the unveiling, supported by Derry Trades Council, the Working Class Movement Library, Salford, and the North West Labour History Society. Séamus died on March 1.

John Doherty

The erection of a monument to John Doherty in Buncrana had a long gestation. In October 1975, one of my first years working for the ITGWU Education & Training Department, I spent a week in Letterkenny but persuaded the Donegal Branch Secretary George Hunter to arrange for me to address a public meeting in Buncrana on John Doherty.

Local Buncrana Branch Secretary Jimmy Cutliffe made the arrangements but confessed that he had ‘never heard of Doherty’ and doubted anyone would come. Armed with acetate slides and an overhead projector, I was late arriving on the midweek night but found the hall fairly packed. The audience was intrigued at Doherty’s extraordinary life, a life summarised by Teresa Moriarty in the Dictionary of Irish Biography or John Simkin’s entry on the Spartacus Educational site.

Séamus Doherty, RIP; his monument to ‘The Voice of the People’, John Doherty

For the audience, a big concern was ‘which Doherty was he?’ In Buncrana, there are a lot of Dohertys, McLaughlins, Porters and so on, all identified locally by patronym or nickname based on townland, appearance or occupation – like ‘Shirts’ Doherty.

My own family married into McLaughlins from Desertegney, just north of the town. Various people offered likely genealogical explanations and a couple claimed direct lineage!

Doherty, as a pioneer trade unionist, meant less, much of it, after all, happening across the water in Manchester. Doherty nonetheless could claim to have founded the first ‘national’ trade union – the Grand General Union of Cotton Spinners of Great Britain & Ireland; the first Congress or trade union centre – the National Association for the Protection of Labour; and pioneered radical working class journalism with publications like The Conciliator or Cotton Spinners’ Weekly Journal, the Voice of the People or the Poor Man’s Advocate.

These papers campaigned for political reform, protective factory legislation to shorten hours and remove children from industrial employment, abolition of the Corn Laws and advanced radical policies. Doherty was a man Buncrana should be proud of.

A few members of the audience raised the issue of an appropriate way of honouring Doherty’s memory and achievements.

Eventually, Eamonn McCann and others in Derry Trades Council began to raise consciousness about Doherty’s legacy and Séamus Doherty was the man in Buncrana to make it happen. He knew the townsfolk, the people to ask and had a location and a monumental mason lined up.

I travelled up to Buncrana and met Séamus and knew instantly that a monument would finally be erected. It came to fruition in July 2002 and the photograph below shows the SIPTU party at the unveiling. The union then had a significant membership in Inishowen, many employed by Fruit of the Loom, an industry and process well-understood by Doherty, the spinner.

SIPTU General President Des Geraghty unveiling the John Doherty monument on Castle Bridge Pier, Buncrana, July 2000: l-r, Tony Gill, Jim Cutliffe (former ITGWU Branch Secretary, Buncrana), Margaret Bell, Bridie Burns (SIPTU Trustee), Seán Reilly (SIPTU Donegal County Branch Secretary) and Eddie Porter

Since its erection, the monument has inevitably weathered, exposed as it is on Castle Bridge Pier facing out into Lough Swilly and across to Fanad. A local historian, John McCarron, smartened up the lettering earlier this year to make the inscription clear and legible.

I hope Séamus got to hear about McCarron’s work and, better, that he was able to see it. The simple stone monument proudly holds both Dohertys’ memory solid: John Doherty for breaking so much new ground for trade unionism in an age of repression and Séamus Doherty for his commitment to seeing one of the town’s great figures suitably commemorated.

The Irish Labour History Society thanks Séamus Doherty for his work and wishes all strength to his family and friends on his passing. I am grateful to Michael Gallinagh in compiling this brief tribute.